Iranian President orders report on controversial interference waves

Iranian President Hassan Rohani has ordered his ministers of "Communications and Information Technology", "Health Care" and "Defence" as well as the head of the Atomic Energy Agency to submit a report to him on the use of interference waves in the country.

On December 1, the Iran Newspaper quoted Mahmoud Vaezi, the Minister of Communication and Information Technology, saying: "If the concern over interfering waves is about cell phones and communications equipment, we have these under control through the Communications Regulatory Authority of Iran and we are doing our best to reduce damages by these sectors."

The transmission of interference waves in Iran has been a topic of debate in the recent years, and some regard it as a danger to public health.

Vaezi added that: "If non-communication interference is the issue, then a committee of ministers of Health Care, Communications and Information, Defence and the Atomic Energy Agency has been put together to investigate this."

He further says that some of the waves are not from the Communications and Information Ministry, and if they are to be controlled, they must be brought under his ministry.

Interference has yet again become a topic of discussion after Iran's Environmental Protection Organization warned that waves meant to jam satellite signals have been extremely dangerous, even causing cancer in some cases.

About a month ago, as a result of a number of complaints filed by lawyers and citizens, Tehran's Prosecutor issued an order to look into complaints against dangerous interfering waves.

Masoumeh Ebtekar, the head of the Environmental Protection Organization, had repeatedly announced that radiation caused by interference waves that interrupt satellite programs is a danger to health.

On Thursday November 1, Saeed Motesadi, the Deputy of the Environmental Protection Organization, suggested: "If we are to do something against cultural attacks and protect the country's integrity and identity, then it would be better to discover other ways to achieve that."

The problem of interference waves and their link to cancer was discussed many times during the previous government; however, its members denied it every time.

The Islamic Republic of Iran transmits interference waves on a widespread scale in order to block radio and television signals carrying Persian-language programs transmitted from outside the country.